Software Training @ Tuts+

Your computer, smartphone, and tablet are great, but on their own they can do very little. Your favorite OS might have a ton of features that help you be more productive and make your work environment the way you like it, but it, too, can’t do much on its own. Instead, your hardware and OS together give you the platform to run the software that help you get things done, keeps you entertained, and makes your machines worth buying.

For years now, Tuts+ has been a great place to learn how to use software to create stunning graphics and animations, craft websites and apps, record the clearest audio, and so much more. Its Sublime Text, Photoshop, and web design tutorials are among the very best available. That tradition’s been carried on in new vectors, with Tuts+ teaching everything from craft skills to OS X and Raspberry Pi tweaking. And now, we’re taking that same focus to the apps that make your devices great.

I’d started the new year by mentioning that AppStorm was being shut down, and that I’d be moving on to a new Tuts+ position. Since then, I’ve built a new Software Training team, and am the new Software Training editor at Tuts+. We’re taking the Envato mantra of “helping people earn and learn online” to the productivity apps that can be so confusing to use and yet so essential to business — and to the newer, simpler apps that business think couldn’t possibly counter their “professional” software.

Microsoft Office is still very important, and yet it’s both complex and packed with unknown features, ensuring most people only scratch the surface of what it can do. But reading a article that tells you specific features of an app is hardly anyone’s idea of a good time. And, even as feature-packed as Office is, there’s often ways to do the exact same tasks in other simpler apps, if you have the freedom to use them in your work. So, at Tuts+, our goal will be to guide you through how to accomplish a task with apps, in a way where you can get what you need to get done, done, using the apps you have available. We’ll show how Google Docs and iWork and even simple, Markdown powered tools can be used instead of Office, but we’ll also help you be the most productive with Office when you need to use it.

And that’s only scratching the surface of what we want to cover. You need to get your best work done, anywhere, from any device, and our ultimate goal is to help people learn how to do just that. At the same time, the former Mactuts+ team will continue writing about OS X and hardware, and the new Business Tuts+ will be teaching the business concepts and tips that’ll help you succeed in your work. Together, you’ll be able to learn how to use your devices and the apps on them to do your very best work.

It’s an exciting challenge, and we’re just getting started. So that’s my new day job at Tuts+, one I’m very excited about. Check out computers.tutsplus.com and see what we’re working on — and see the beautiful new Tuts+ hub that makes it easy to find training about anything our entire team has written about. And if you’re excited about the idea of a new style of app training, and would be interested in joining the team, get in touch. There’s a lot still to be done.

Continue reading at http://computers.tutsplus.com/

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